The Corsair is a tale in verse that became extremely popular and influential during the early nineteenth century. The poem, divided into cantos (like Dante's Divine Comedy), narrates the story of the corsair Conrad, how he was in his youth rejected by society because of his actions and his later fight against humanity (excepting women).
In Byron's poem Conrad, the leader of a band of pirates, leaves his island hideaway to undertake a raid on his enemy, Seyd Pasha. He also leaves behind Medora, the woman he loves. Almost at the point of victory he is moved to rescue Seyd's women from the burning castle and in doing so loses the momentum and is defeated. After being captured and imprisoned, one of the women, the harem queen Gulnare falls in love with him and eventually succeeds in helping him escape. They are joined by the last of his forces and make their way back to the island. Upon their arrival Conrad discovers that Medora has died. he then mysteriously disappears with Gulnare.
The poem has inspired a number of writers and composers to create works in various forms, among thses being Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Corsaro, Hector Berlioz's overture Le Corsaire and Adolphe Adam's ballet Le Corsaire. William Hone, radical publisher, satirist, and pamphleteer, also produced a novelettization of the poem in 1917.
At least two versions of the Corsair story have been produced in Australia, an opera by John Howson (1848), based on the Byron poem, and a burlesque by Garnet Walch (1870), adapted and localised from William Brough's 1856 burlesque.
